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For Gulf Coast Tourist Businesses, Spring Break Is A Mixed Bag

José Lopez, one of the co-owners at Gordos American Eats in Corpus Christi, Texas
Martin do Nascimento/KUT
José Lopez, one of the co-owners at Gordos American Eats in Corpus Christi, Texas

From Texas Standard.

Spring break is a time to relax and get away for vacationers, but it’s a make or break season for businesses along the Gulf Coast. And that’s especially so this year, as the region tries to rebound from Hurricane Harvey. So we at the Texas Standard made a few calls. We asked a basic question – how’s business?

Quentin with Moby Dick’s in Port Aransas gives spring break a B+:

“We’re not too bad right now…nothing crazy. The beaches were pretty packed the other day. But a lot of the restaurants are still rebuilding and trying to get up and running to how they were before.”

Gracie’s Gift Shop in Galveston is too busy to talk:

“Well, we’re slammed at the moment.”

Sea Shell Inn in Corpus Christi is doing well:

“We have been pretty much full for the past five days. “

Cheryl Cuzco owns  Cheryl’s By the Bay in Rockport. It’s open for business, but she’s a realist about the town’s long recovery:

“…By this time you would see children up and down Fulton Beach Road and it’s not there.

I did well after the storm. I was the first one to open up the doors.

We were blown to kingdom come. You can’t bounce back…People thought we could just be back in a few months. Too many rules, too many regulations. It’s not gonna happen.”

Copyright 2020 KUT 90.5. To see more, visit KUT 90.5.

David D. Brown is executive producer and host of the award-winning cultural journalism program Texas Music Matters at NPR affiliate KUT-FM in Austin. He is former anchor of the award-winning public radio business program Marketplace, and a veteran public radio journalist. He has reported national and international affairs for Monitor Radio from bases in Atlanta, Boston, London, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
David Brown
David entered radio journalism thanks to a love of storytelling, an obsession with news, and a desire to keep his hair long and play in rock bands. An inveterate political junkie with a passion for pop culture and the romance of radio, David has reported from bases in Washington, London, Los Angeles, and Boston for Monitor Radio and for NPR, and has anchored in-depth public radio documentaries from India, Brazil, and points across the United States and Europe. He is, perhaps, known most widely for his work as host of public radio's Marketplace. Fulfilling a lifelong dream of moving to Texas full-time in 2005, Brown joined the staff of KUT, launching the award-winning cultural journalism unit "Texas Music Matters."